So we're in Huntington, WV for a day off and then a show. This is where Marshall University is and the whole tragedy with the airplane going down and where the movie came from... We Are Marshall. Small little college town... EVERYONE knew we were there, not because it was a small little college town, but ALL of our busses were lined up outside at the city's nicest hotel on MAIN STREET. Good gosh there was always people horded around the buses... Anyhoo, I get into my room and find THIS lurching on my friggin bag!
Yeah, I'm pretty sure I yelled and tried to throw something at it. Crazy thing is, these boogers were all over the town! Especially at the campus... flying everywhere, dead everywhere, and really loud! They make a weird screech and when there's several hundred thousand around, you get a little creeped out. Anyone seen The Mummy? yeah.
Here's part of the memorial they have at the stadium:
I helped myself to the field. By this time it was so bloody hot outside, some clothing had to be shed off. Don't be jealous =)
I'm enjoying my day off in Huntington, and our rigger calls me and he's like "Daddy-o... we're gonna have some effing problems tomorrow buddy. This place doesn't have any steel, but they say you can hang 100,000lbs, and they had an engineer in here recently and he disagreed. I don't know what to tell you daddy-o, I'm confused too and this place is just the pits. If we had some horses and some dirt, it would be okay ya know? We're gonna hafta bring in the B-rig and just make sure none of the roof starts bending, okay?" Yeah. We get there, and this is one of the many things we saw that day:
Some kind of after-market bridge for people to cross? I just laughed... took a picture... and carried on =) Our promoter rep sets up my FOH risers and tables each day in coordination with the venue. Well, can I tell you the number of times the venue has put out the tables and they were BROKE!?!? I seriously lost count after 7 (i know, great east texas education). So our promoter rep got smart and made what should be the obvious, even more obvious.
We had a day off in Mobile, Alabama and had a nice time at a great hotel and a few attractions around the area. A few of us caught a taxi to see the USS Alabama... turned out pretty cool.
And before our show in New Orleans we had another day off =) Even though parts of it is a little run down and trashy... I really did enjoy New Orleans and think it would be great to spend some more time down there. We were downtown, so there was plenty to walk around and see. We got some hurricanes and walked around with a buzz for a while... that made it better =) My hotel room was HUGE! I walked in and heard music playing in the background. Kinda scared me at first because I've walked into people's rooms before when they assign me the wrong room... yikes! But I walk in, go through the hallways (in my room, still), round the corner, pass the bathroom suite (yes, a suite, you could have probably fit a bed in there... marble floors, big tub, separate tiled shower, great porcelain throne, nice view of the city), keep goin down the hallway, and it spilled into this bedroom. Needless to say I slept great that nite!
I found this feller on Bourbon St. I wanted to offer some money and buy his shirt... i'm too chicken though.
And after New Orleans, that basically wrapped up our first leg of the Carnival Ride tour. We've done a lot of shows! But thankfully, I'm not exhausted and I'm excited to ramp up into the summer and fall... we'll be busy for sure. I was wondering why my bag was getting heavy to haul up and down stairs... c'mon Jenkins!
I had a birthday and turned 26... the boys and girls on the tour got me (and Juan, another crew guy) a birthday cake. We lit that thing up!
And I get back to Jeff & Patti's place, and they have this waiting for me on my pillow. Aren't they just great? The cigars, that is. hahahaha... nah, P&J are too good to me! Thanks friends!
So Jeff blogged about this too, but basically my truck broke down after I worked out at the gym. I go outside to crank it... *click*click*click* Freaking aye! So i ask for a jump-start and an employee helps me. Does nothing. So I'm dumb and realize I have one of those pre-charged-jump-start-devices in my toolbox... dope! Try it... nothing. Dangit! Call Jeff and he's like "hey... Patti's been cooking for 5 hours... okay, maybe not that long, but she wants us to eat, and that sucks about your truck, but she says I can't eat until you get here. Can we eat first and then fix your truck?" Hahhahahah... at least he's honest!
So we eat (it was great!) and go to Wal-Mart (grrrrr... which i hate, but it was the only thing opened at the time) and buy a battery. Install the battery, NOTHING! Son of a..... So we push my truck into an area where the tow truck could probably get it... taking 2 parking spots. Before we left, I told Jeff "ya know, should we push it a little more into the other parking space, cause I bet ya some clown will try to park his little car in that spot and I'm gonna get hosed." But I dismissed the idea and we went home... defeated. I arrange a tow truck and get there early in the morning... and would you believe it... some ass clown!!! parked in that tiny spot and his car was in the drive way an extra 5 feet or so. Ridiculous.
So Jeff left me and had to go get his broke back, i mean back broken at the chiropractor. The tow truck guy doesn't speak english (great!) and we try to get it out like it is... almost hit another car... no luck. So we push it even further into the parking lot and get it up on the bed. Got it on there, got it to the mechanics shop. Luckily they didn't have to replace the starter, but only some electrical screws and terminals that it was connected to. Got out pretty cheap!
And tell ya what, if anyone runs into this dingbat on the road, steer clear!
Twice, i tell ya, TWICE this guy cut me off. One time in Franklin, and then two days later in Brentwood. The next time I'm calling the number and gonna share some of my faith and testament with him. Seriously!
So there's my last month in a nutshell... I'll leave ya with this. I saw this when going home from Bandit the other day:
"What seems to be the fire, son?"
+BrianJ
